Images of West Texas Fires

Twenty-six firefighters from the Austin, Buda, Kyle and Pedernales Fire Departments have been sent to Fort Davis and Merkel in West Texas to help battle wildfires. Austin firefighter Jimmy Taylor has been sending back images he's taken of the fires in and around Fort Davis. You can find those in the slideshow embedded above.

As wildfires tear across West Texas and leave a 309,500 acre path of scorched earth, the drought situation here in Central Texas is becoming increasingly dangerous. Patches of the region are experiencing the most intense drought conditions classified by the US Drought Monitor.

"We're extremely dry, and because of that our fire danger has really gone up," Lower Colorado River Authority meteorologist Bob Rose told KUT News. "It's one of the driest six month periods on records."